A battle line crisscrosses Narayanganj

May 11, 2014 12:03 am0 commentsViews: 9

The villains in the Narayanganj incident are not rare

characters in the present Bangladesh socioeconomic
reality. The antiheroes roam and shout and threaten
and spread panic and display power and thus dominate
the stage, which is far wider than Narayanganj, which
is revolving but the revolving movement is so slow that
the stage appears static, writes Farooque Chowdhury
THE battle line crisscrossing todays Narayanganj is not
between the forces of status quo and its opponents. Its
not between, as almost always perceived in almost all
Bangladesh political incidents, the Awami League and the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the two major political
parties in todays Bangladesh mainstream. The line runs
through the status quo.
And, Narayanganj is part of Bangladesh reality, and the

haphazardly appearing battle line is part of Bangladesh

socio-economy and politics, and the Bangladesh socioeconomic-political reality is riddled with contradictions
that allow none to escape from its clutches. Its a rotating
shaft with its own driving mechanism.
It exposes the state of a part of the dominant interests. The
villains in the Narayanganj incident are not rare characters
in the present Bangladesh socioeconomic reality. The
antiheroes roam and shout and threaten and spread panic
and display power and thus dominate the stage, which is
far wider than Narayanganj, which is revolving but the
revolving movement is so slow that the stage appears
static.
The heroes the people appear onlookers as they
wait and wait and wait silently. For them, the time is
moving ultra-slowly, and the time is waiting for a sharp
turn in history.
The Narayanganj incident the recent abduction and
killing of seven citizens including an elected
representative and a senior lawyer, and followed by
exposure of extortion and plunder of hundreds of millions
of takas is not a sudden outgrowth. It takes time for
such a forceful growth. It needs fuel, and the fuel requires
origin.
So, there is the fact of ignoring the Narayanganj
antiheroes while the case was developing over a longer
period of time. But the questions are: Why was the
developing case ignored? Is the case of ignoring a case of

ignorance or a case of connection?

The antiheroes appear non-partisan, or they belonged and
belong to more than one political party over a long period
of time. They were always on political move, and were
always joining bandwagon. But they are political; their
politics is a politics of plunder.
They were always dynamic. They were always renewing
their political allegiance, abandoning the runner up and
cheering up the champion. They were in a continuous
turncoat process: switching over from one party to
another as dominant political map changed over the years.
But, to the actors, one consideration was constant like a
North Star: bagging of money. The ways for pocketing
varied. The variances depended on area, size and time for
mining money.
Money was in a lot of places. There were money trees in
and around the locality, and in many localities. Trucks
carrying goods, the river flowing by the river-port city,
and many other areas and activities bore alluring signs of
money, and all the sources were tapped. It was an act of
ingenuity.
Common people were not that genius. Even, the
ordinary citizens had not that imaginative power.
Only imagination cant ensure money-mining. It requires
force and power, even if informal. A weak force is
ineffective in this case as big money requires strong force.
Intermittent show of force also turns useless in this case.
It requires regular presence of force, even in an informal

setting and form.

These require connections, and connections require deals,
and deals generate activity and inactivity, depending on
concerned area of mining. These virtually take the
characteristics of an institution: an institution of plunder
and power, or, of extortion and execution. In short, the
circuit is plunder-power-plunder or p-p1-p2, where p2 is
bigger than p, or extortion-execution (e-e1).
As a sporadic form, and in an isolated setting, this cant
exist for a long time. It also requires a favourable ground,
political and social. It requires more power and force than
the power and force of formal and legal institutions and of
legitimacy if an informal institution of plunder and
extortion operates within the precinct and maze of
formality, institutions, laws and rules for a comparatively
longer period of time as the informal institution has to
overpower all legalities and institutions enacted to
safeguard property.
The reality that thus develops is: a private property
blossoms by plundering and extorting properties that
include private property and the commons. It thus shows
its might: Mightier than legalities, institutions,
arrangements and processes as it hoodwinks, juggles,
distorts a lot set, enacted, enforced to secure existing
private property and its owners.
It exposes its mightier position as it influences a lot, as it
gains acceptability and respectability. Its political
position, its skill to manipulate politics and political

parties, its power to silence and purchase many eyes and

ears and brains and conscience exhibit its mightier power,
mightier, for a certain time, than pen! It may appear a
temporary numb of collective conscience! It thus exposes
its mighty connections.
The connections roots deep inside the socioeconomic
reality and branches spread over a wider area empower
and rejuvenate it. The connections to the socio-economy
and politics are more important than connections to
individuals as individuals cant turn effective and useful
without socioeconomic-political setting.
Its a detailed and delicate arrangement. Its full of
intricacies. An isolated case of regular and widespread
extortion and plunder a daredevil act cant survive,
operate and flourish for a longer period of time spread
over many areas.
Many such stories were conveyed by the Bangladesh
mass media for decades. The media regularly convey
similar stories from many other places. A few of those
were/are tales of more powerful barons with their private
armed gangs while scores are petty but mighty in
respective areas of operation. People know the local lords
where there is failure in reporting as people in respective
localities have very live experience of this power.
The acts, feat of skill, are done by none but by gang of
politically armed swashbucklers only.
Anyone, broadly, from Bangladesh can now easily add
names in appropriate sentences composed above. Names

of persons, places, positions, parties, processes,

performances, pacts among involved have been
mentioned and indicated in the Bangladesh mass media
for many times.
Now, one, conversant with the Bangladesh mass media
reporting throughout a period of the few last decades, can
recollect similar names and incidents over the decades.
The picture is broadly the same: power-extort-execute.
Now, one can check reports and histories of companies,
and biographies and autobiographies of capitalists in
India, which may include Jamshedji Tata. A few dreams
of those capitalists required decades to initiate, a few of
their dreams remained unrealised. Then, one can ask: how
much money those capitalists made over how much time
by how much appropriation of surplus value? One can
ask: how much naked show of power and disregard of
existing property arrangement were there? One can also
ask a question that someone can interpret as favouring
feudalism: How many Bengal zamindars were equal to
todays local lords in terms of power, connections and
brutalities?
A comparison is difficult without a fine methodology,
which will require, among others, putting weight
appropriately, and identifying indicators and variables.
But, a crude comparison can be made for having a
primary hunch of the Bangladesh reality.
Other capitalist plunder and primary accumulation in
other economies can also be compared. A seemingly

intriguing Bangladesh reality will emerge through these

comparisons. The reality of plunder gets reflected in
politics, society and culture. A political-culture of plunder
emerges. Its vulgar, but efficient. It influences and
moulds many minds, and deactivates many. It has the
capacity to bridle many minds.
This makes an amazing situation: questions are raised but
not effectively, seemingly strong steps are initiated
ineffectively, facts are being dug out after a long time as if
none were aware of the fact. Then, isnt it the problem
within status quo, with organs and machines of status
quo?
Whatever the tact or failure is a few questions related to
economy will haunt the status quo: Where does the
extorted money go? Does it sit idle? Its difficult for the
vast amount of extorted money to sit idle. Does the
money continue bearing its colour: black? Or, is it
pumped or pulled into the machine powered by white
money? In that case of pumping or pulling, whats the
actors role? How does the so-called real economy, the
white money, the capital engaged in manufacturing,
processing, construction, providing services react to the
money accumulated through plunder and extortion, and
when necessary, by killing? Does the money extorted and
plundered have any particular political colour or does it
transcend all colours? Is the money shaping that politics
with which it interacts, enters into collusion, and thus
turns part of it?

Answers to the questions will show limits of the reality:

of the status quo politics, of the social classes tied to the
status quo, and of its machineries.
Answers to the questions will also help identify the
political-economy of plunder and extortion, and political
character of interests.
A stupid or shrewd effort will be made if this reality is not
analysed with its perspective, if its analysed with a
narrow, cheap, partial viewpoint including this party, not
that party, if analysed without taking into consideration
the class connections. The cheap effort actually plays a
role in disseminating disinformation designed by external
actors having plan to intervene to achieve global imperial
goal.
A cruel reality emerges if some more information is
considered to construct a broader picture.
The information may include the scam of billions of takas
by a so-called multi-level marketing company over a long
period of time and under careful eyes entrusted with the
task of supervising, the bank scandals to the tune of
billions of takas over years although there were detailed
arrangements for check and balance, incidents of
siphoning and money laundering of billions of takas, and
a futile attempt to commit suicide by Rezaul Karim, 40, a
rickshaw-puller in Dhaka, as he was failing to bear the
burden of debt.
Rezaul, the foolish citizen, was not that much smart
and enlightened that enables one to digest or reschedule

his big loan or getting interests of that loan pardoned.

So, Rezaul, the loyal toiler tried to cut his neck with a
blade. He borrowed an amount of Tk 80,000-90,000 from
individuals and NGOs for medical expenses of his wife.
Rezaul had to pay back Tk 800-900 each week
(bdnews24.com, Rickshaw-puller attempts suicide,
March 8). Rezaul, and millions of persons like him create
a reality of vortex in a reality of plunder with many
facades.
Other questions crop up within the reality: Whats being
done by the extortion, killing, etc energising or
corroding the reality that enables it to operate? So, is not
the battle line within the status quo, where the same
interests collude and confront and co-opt? But for how
long the reality can keep its shape? A vertex may
accompany a base, and there may be another sequence
after the vertex, and quantitative changes bring qualitative
change.
Farooque Chowdhury is a Dhaka-based freelance writer.